Carried away with their dissimulation

[Nancy]

Excellent thread!
It made me think about something I struggle with, which is to wonder at which point trying not to offend a weaker brother becomes a weaker brother bullying others.

It's the old knee fleshly, jerk reaction. We all still and will have some more, as you say "wriggling" to do on that cross!

 

[Enoch111]

...then Peter also understood that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision mattered one iota to a man's salvation.

Yes Peter did see this but that did not mean that Peter could immediately change his strongly Jewish beliefs about maintaining distance from Gentiles. Peter had a very hard time accepting that vision from God, and later on Peter may still have not fully understood that the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles had been abolished at the cross. Regardless, he was in the wrong when he separated himself from the Gentile believers in the presence of Jews. So Paul had to correct him. With Paul, this were quite different.

This kind of thing may also be true for many new converts from other religions or cultures. They need time to change their attitudes and behavior.